Baron_Harkonnen Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 hi, first of all ive read the topic about advised controllers, but i leave in israel, so i can buy only what is available here. i need your advice on best setup\ and choice of controller my motherboard is ASUS maximus formula i have 2 PCIe x16 ports (one is used for graphic card - i'd preffer not to take it out if i don't really have to, but i will do it if ill need to free up the slots...) 3 PCIe x1 ports 1 PCI i want to have a total of at least 8 drives. the cards that are available for me: Adaptec 2252100-R (8 port sas/sata) adaptec 2260200-R (4 port sas/sata) Adaptec - AAR1220SA (2 port pcie x1) adaptec - AAR1430SA (4 port pcie x4) the first 2 are expensive... but if ill get the 8 port card, i will use only one pciex16 slot! the question is - will i benefit in any way from an expensive card (other than having 1 card with 8 ports)? (more reliability maybe?). also - as i understand in case of the 8 port card - there is some tinkering to be done with it's BIOS to work properlly... the AAR series on the other hand are probably plug'n'play (can someone confirm it?...) also they are cheap! the only down side is that i'll either have to take out my graphic card, and put 2x AAR1430SA (4 port) cards in the pciex16 slots, or use one AAR1430SA (4 port) card in pciex16 port, and 2 or even 3 AAR1220SA (2 port) cards in the pciex1 slots... please help me to choose - what will i benefit from more? i would preffer offcores the chepier, and simplier plug'n'play instalation, over the more expensive option, especially if it does not add anything really usefull to the system.......on the other hand - if you'll say that expensive cards are the way to go....i'll go for the 8xport card... also - should i consider LSI controllers? they seem cheaper, but i read some of the posts here that they make problems... Thanks! Quote Link to comment
Rajahal Posted November 22, 2011 Share Posted November 22, 2011 Your motherboard does not have onboard video, so chances are you will have to leave your graphics card installed. I have no experience with Adaptec SATA controller cards. I expect that you cannot get the Supermicro cards in Israel, but can you find the Silicon Image SIL3132 or SIL3124? Both cards work well (plug and play) and are generally inexpensive. If the Adaptec cards really are your only options, then I would go for either of these two: Adaptec - AAR1220SA (2 port pcie x1) adaptec - AAR1430SA (4 port pcie x4) The others are just way too expensive, and they won't make your server any faster. Your motherboard should be able to support one of the 4 port cards and two of the 2 port cards for a total of 14 SATA ports. You will want to set all the cards to JBOD mode (or NO-RAID if that is an option). Quote Link to comment
Baron_Harkonnen Posted November 22, 2011 Author Share Posted November 22, 2011 Thanks for help! i could not find any silicon image, so i bought 2x adapter 4 ports, and 1 2 ports (AAR series). as for the graphics, i bought cheap PCI graphic card my current card had a bad fan anyway... i will have to disable the bios on those cards though... hope the installation will go smoothly! Quote Link to comment
Rajahal Posted November 25, 2011 Share Posted November 25, 2011 I don't think you'll be able to 'disable the BIOS', you'll just want to set them to JBOD or NO-RAID mode. Good luck! Quote Link to comment
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